Chinese MMOs And SNS Games To Generate $9.2 Billion By 2014

The economy may be down on its hands and knees, getting royally kicked in the ribs by a relentless recession, but that doesn’t mean every market in every corner of the world is down for the 10 count. A new research and data survey study from a leading firm in China made some startling claims about the future of Chinese online gaming and it's all good if you happen to be a game publisher.

Despite strict regulatory measures to keep gaming filtered and monitored in People’s Republic of China, the gaming industry is expected to exponentially grow by 2014, according to a leading market intelligence firm, Niko Partners.

According to Lisa Cosmas Hanson, managing partner of Niko Partners…

“While the global economic downturn hurt video game publishers in much of the world, China’s online game industry reflected no pain in 2009 and gamers continued to embrace online games as the best inexpensive source of social entertainment available,”

Chinese MMOs and social network services (SNS) are expected to grow to about a $9.2 billion dollar market by 2014, up almost threefold from the $3.57 billion dollar market in 2009.

According to the research, 63% of Chinese gamers increased their time spent in online gaming (and hopefully that wasn’t at the sacrifice of showering and putting on deodorant). Another 65% of those surveyed admitted to going to internet cafes despite having a personal computer, but did so to socialize and be with friends while gaming.

What’s more is that SNS and MMOs are expected to garner more than 141 million Chinese gamers in the coming years, up from the current 68 million who currently plug their eyes into online gaming for unspeakable amounts of hours.

It’s easy to note that the popularity of social MMO games has spurred interest in the Chinese gamers, but let’s not forget that the regulation of keeping home consoles out of China probably helps a ton in coercing gamers into choosing PC and MMO gaming more-so than other countries.